In an interview for Radio 1, Labor's Martijn van Dam said his party insisted that Verhagen and the European Union take "concrete" action that demands Israel accept Hamas as a partner for dialog. Van Dam also lamented the Netherlands and the European Union's decision to blacklist Hamas.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Martjin van Dam has actually sat down, and thought seriously about the potential outcomes of the Israelis and Palestinians not finding concrete, peaceful solutions to decades of violence and hatred.

He understands, clearly, that those outcomes are universally bad for both the Palestinian and Israeli people, and potentially lousy for the entire world.

My hat is off to this guy. I would like to hope that the Netherlands understands what he is attempting to do by the potential imposition of these sanctions, and supports him in them.

For until and unless Israel understands that the rest of the world has started to pay attention to what is happening to Palestinians under Israel's yoke, and is responding with economic sanctions, the Israeli government will have absolutely no reason to change its current policies.